OLLI at Auburn University

Week 3 – Happiness

Today’s TED Talks

The surprising science of happiness. Dan Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness, challenges the idea that we’ll be miserable if we don’t get what we want. Our “psychological immune system” lets us feel truly happy even when things don’t go as planned. He says our beliefs about what will make us happy are often wrong — a premise he supports with intriguing research, and explains in his accessible and unexpectedly funny book.

How to buy happiness. Michael Norton shares fascinating research on how money can, indeed buy happiness — when you don’t spend it on yourself. Listen for surprising data on the many ways pro-social spending can benefit you, your work, and (of course) other people. Through clever studies, Michael Norton studies how we feel about what we buy and spend.

Less stuff, more happiness.
Writer and designer Graham Hill asks: Can having less stuff, in less room, lead to more happiness? He makes the case for taking up less space, and lays out three rules for editing your life. He is the founder of TreeHugger.com; he travels the world to tell the story of sustainability.

Discussion

RE: Gilbert Talk

1. Do you think as does Dan Gilbert that we can manufacture happiness?

2. What is synthetic happiness?

3. How does Gilbert define impact bias?

4. Does you think that all have a psychological immune system?

5. When you want something, can not getting it make you as happy as getting it would?

RE: Norton Talk

1. What does Norton mean when he says money can buy happiness?

2. Does money make a person anti-social?

3. What are the right things to spend money on?

RE: Hill Talk

1. Thirty years ago, are you more happy, less happy, or equally happy?

2. What would it mean to you to edit your life ruthlessly?

3. What does Hill life editing can give us?

More…

Matthieu Ricard: The habits of happiness. What is happiness, and how can we all get some? Buddhist monk, photographer and author Matthieu Ricard has devoted his life to these questions, and his answer is influenced by his faith as well as by his scientific turn of mind: We can train our minds in habits of happiness. Interwoven with his talk are stunning photographs of the Himalayas and of his spiritual community.